Buying some good pork lard, cutting it into small pieces to render into lard, and putting both the oil and residue into an enamel jar, she would take a small piece with chopsticks when eating noodles, adding some soy sauce and green onions. When hot soup was poured in, the aroma would fill the room, and the instant noodles cooked this way would never be too bad. There was also the option of cutting half-fat, half-lean meat into cubes and simmering it into meat sauce, which was the upgraded version of lard noodles.
With insufficient cooking skills, she made up for it with ingredients. Anyway, Elizabeth could never get enough of pork, so Whitaker Scarlett didn’t need to be a great cook.
Since Whitaker Scarlett’s cold-resistant jackets and duck down jackets weren’t selling, she decided not to set up her stall today and stayed home to study. After stewing the spare ribs, Elizabeth rode her bicycle home, the basket carrying a strong smell of oil residue.
“Did you cook?”
Elizabeth caught the scent of the spare ribs and casually said to Whitaker Scarlett as she parked her bicycle in the yard:
“Has Grandma Johnson come back?”
Grandma Johnson wasn’t close to the mother and daughter. Elizabeth thought of her as a lonely old lady who needed to be looked after. No matter what delicious food was made, they would always ask Grandma Johnson, even though she had never shown any appreciation.
Grandma Johnson swept the streets, and she should have returned by now; indeed, she hadn’t been seen today. Upon closer inspection, Grandma Johnson’s broom was leaning against the wall. The door to the room was closed from the inside rather than locked from the outside. When had she come back? Whitaker Scarlett had only gone out to buy groceries at noon and had been studying all afternoon, not hearing any noise… Grandma Johnson was getting old; at this time, they shouldn’t be concerned about whether she was in a romantic relationship or not. Whitaker Scarlett called out “Grandma Johnson” a couple of times, but there was no response from inside the house.
She knocked hard on the door, but still no response.
Elizabeth peered through the window, “…There’s someone on the bed!”
The door to the room was locked from the inside. Grandma Johnson was very cautious; she even locked the door for a nap during the day. Whitaker Scarlett called out a few more times, but there was still no answer, so she kicked the door open.
Even with that noise, it didn’t wake the person up, and Whitaker Scarlett estimated that the situation wasn’t good. She put her hand under her nose; there was still breathing… Whitaker Scarlett breathed a sigh of relief:
“Mom, let’s hurry and take her to the hospital!”
The braised pork ribs were naturally left uneaten.
Unable to sit still on the back of the bicycle, it was still Whitaker Scarlett who let Elizabeth ride, while she found a rope to tie Grandma Johnson and Elizabeth together. Whitaker Scarlett supported herself with her hands at the back, while Elizabeth pedaled. She jogged behind for nearly twenty minutes before reaching the People’s Hospital of Harborfield City… Fortunately, it was in Harborfield City; if they had to go to a remote countryside area, they might have arrived too late!
The mother and daughter had accompanied William here last time, so they were quite familiar with the situation at the People’s Hospital of Harborfield City. As soon as they dropped Grandma Johnson off, they shouted for help, and a doctor in a white coat rushed out with a nurse.
“What’s the patient’s condition?”
Whitaker Scarlett and Elizabeth were clueless; they didn’t understand Grandma Johnson’s health condition. Whitaker Scarlett could only share what she knew, and the doctor scolded them for being confused, quickly starting the rescue.
Half an hour later, a nurse came out and scolded Whitaker Scarlett and her daughter:
“How can you be family members? The old lady is in shock due to ketoacidosis. She has diabetes, and you didn’t pay attention to it?”
Ketoacidosis?
Elizabeth didn’t understand at all and thought Grandma Johnson had just eaten something bad.
Whitaker Scarlett was genuinely shocked; Grandma Johnson actually had diabetes? She had never seen Grandma Johnson take medicine or get injections, and it seemed like none of the neighbors had mentioned it either. Besides being particularly thin, Grandma Johnson didn’t seem to have any other issues. In this era, older people were generally thin; being plump was already rare, and thinness was the mainstream.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. We will definitely pay more attention in the future. Please do everything you can to save her, no matter how much it costs.”
Whitaker Scarlett’s attitude was sincere, and the nurse’s expression softened a bit.
“We will definitely do our best to save her.”
Whitaker Scarlett asked where to pay the fees, but the nurse seemed in no hurry. In 1983, unlike in later years, patients were treated first and charged later. However, overdue medical bills had become common, and many people tried to evade payment, forcing hospitals to gradually change their rules… The economic reforms improved the economy but soured people’s hearts, leading to a tense doctor-patient relationship and mutual distrust between hospitals and patients.
